“Parting is such sweet sorrow” is a monumental line from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, but, for G2C, parting will (thankfully) have to wait. Today was our second and last free day…and was a roller coaster of excitement from dawn to dusk.

I was given the honor of gathering the troops, and every Glimpser (besides me) woke to the dulcet sound of my fist hammering against their room’s door.

Once again, for one of the last times, we traversed to La Favorita for a delicious breakfast. From there, we all broke into our various groups to take advantage of our generous block of free time.

Surprise, surprise…

Thinking as a singular mind, each and every mind turned up in La Plaza, likely in search for the elusive ponchos that everyone has taken a liking to. If you were James, Raquel, or Aylin, you had bought one before today, but the rest of us were left to scavenge the market for ourselves.

I emerged a champion when I snagged the last remaining one, and, Mom and Dad, you’ll be able to spot me at the airport by the vibrant pink of my poncho if you haven’t forgotten what I look like over the past two weeks.

Then, we all headed to the Garden Cafe, a frequent gathering spot of our delegation for inexpensive food and exotic smoothies. A few more of us snuck away to one of the internet cafes to call our parents or check our Facebooks.

Our GG Leaders summoned us for lunch at La Favorita, and those of use who had stuffed ourselves at the Garden Cafe attempted to scarf down more irresistible food courtesy of Don Carlos and his wife.

For our second block of free time, we all headed to an unexpected find: the Chocolate Museum.

You think you know chocolate?

You don’t know it like the staff of the museum.

Those of us who partook in the free tour (which was all of us) received free samples of cacao tea (look at me, Mom…I like tea now!) and brownies and Nicatella, the museum’s Nutella equivalent, (peanut-free for Kathy). In my humble opinion, Nicatella is a thousand times better than Nutella.

After making a few (I promise, only a few) purchases, my group headed to Tip-Top, the Nicaraguan equivalent of KFC, to satisfy Brandon’s fried chicken craving.

The best moment of the day came then, thanks to Scarlett.

While I made the decision to not climb up onto the restaurant’s play structure, the others decided to, and we were reprimanded by an employee. Scarlett saved the mood with her incredibly expressive facial reactions.

A few of us decided to buy hammocks from la Cafe de la Sonrisa, and we hung out on a comfortable hammock while the others shopped. Then, we took in the amazing view from the top of the cathedral.

Eventually, however, free time wrapped up, and my fellow Glimpsers and I journeyed back to the hostel to work on our English Tutoring Prep. And, after a filling dinner, it was time for English Tutoring itself.

Afterwards, we finished the day with our Nightly Meeting, and my turn as Lider Del Dia came to an end.

Today was an eventful day, and, despite it being one of our last days together as an official delegation, I was proud to see my fellow Glimpsers and I mesh together as a group. We truly have become a family in these two weeks, and there is never a dull moment when we are all together.

Tomorrow will be our last official day together in Nicaragua and the last day to have a student LDD, but, for now, I will enjoy the time we have remaining and live in the moment.

PS: Mom, Dad, Tanishtha, I do miss you. It was weird spending my birthday without you, but my GG family threw me the best surprise party one could ask for. And, the next day, they gifted me a private tropical island, so I have high expectations for my eighteenth!